the third Holmes brother
by SuperWhoLockiansAssemble
Summary: John and Sherlock arrive to find an unexpected visitor...
1. Chapter 1

Sherlock strode to 221b, John quickly limping after him. Sherlock stopped abruptly at the door, "did you lock the door?"

"Yes. Since you never actually bother I took it upon mys-" John began to say but was cut off by a dismissive wave from the detective. The lock barely had any struggle, but there seemed to be some struggle with it, whoever was inside was a master of tricks. The scent of expensive cologne clung in the air.

"There's someone inside. Be ready." Sherlock whispered, opening the door. The two slowly crept up the stairs, both aware of the deathly that hung over the apartment. The living room door was wide open. John took out his gun from under his belt. "You still keep that?"

"Old habit." John shrugged. Feeling somewhat unarmed, Sherlock picked up a broom that was precariously balanced on the top step. The smell of cologne was much stronger now. Weapons raised, the pair ran into the room, but were surprised to see a young man sitting king-like on the red armchair.

"Oh." Sherlock gasped, dropping the broom. The intruder's icy bluish-green eyes made Sherlock's look dull and lifeless in comparison, and his smile gave an uncomfortable sense of mischief. He stood up to face the detective.

"Brother dear, long time no see!" Loki smirked.


	2. Chapter 2

After a while, Sherlock cleared his throat. "John, this is my younger brother Loki. Loki this is John."

"Nice to meet you." Loki grinned, holding out his hand.

"Pleasure." John said unsure if it really was one. He shook the hand nonetheless but there was something familiar about this man's face. Then it clicked, "Oh my God you were the guy who tried to take New York last year!"

"The very same." He smirked, his bright eyes alive with mischief. Sherlock rubbed his temples as if someone were pounding in from the inside.

"Why are you here Loki?" Sherlock asked, agitated by his little brother's surprise visit. Loki circled the living room, his movements swifter than a cat's.

"I may be in a tad bit of trouble." The trickster bit his lip and started playing with a small round snow globe.

"And?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow, "why should I help? You're constantly in trouble."

"Well you may have to you see, someone stole the tesseract from the vaults. If we don't get it back you won't have this Baker street- or Midgard- to live in, so will you help?" Loki gave his most innocent look.

"Why are you asking me for help?" Sherlock inquired.

"No one else would even consider a mission so crazy. Plus I bet 20 gold coins that you can't get the tesseract back..." Loki's soft tone was enough to make anyone agree to do his bidding.

"Fine, it's a deal." Sherlock's eyes glittered with the prospect of proving someone wrong. Poor John hadn't even the faintest idea what a tesseract even was or why it was so important but he knew well enough to trust his best friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Sherlock dashed into his room, and by the rattling sound and swearing, it was clear to John that he was getting changed. John himself had been left in the living room with Loki and felt strangely uncomfortable in the awkward silence.

"So John Watson, how did you meat my _dear_ brother?" Loki broke the silence. he was inspecting the bookcase on the right of the fire-place with some interest.

"How do you know my last name?" John asked alarmed. The man picked up an old newspaper with John and Sherlock on the front cover from a few weeks ago.

"I'm psychic." He replied sarcastically. Just then Sherlock entered the room. he looked so different now to John, wearing a white shirt that reminded John of something a pirate would wear and leather boots over tight black trousers. His hair was ruffled so that it was wilder than usual, making Sherlock look atleast five years younger.

"Ready?" He asked. Loki nodded and lead the way downstairs. Just as John was about to follow when Sherlock grabbed his arm, "Don't trust him. And bring your gun."


	4. Chapter 4

John and Sherlock descended the stairs, finding Loki leaning against the wall, fiddling absent-mindedly with t blue glowing lockets in his hand.

"Ready yet?" He sounded bored beyond belief. Sherlock ignored him and took one of the lockets.

What's that?" John asked nervously.

"Energy from the tesseract John. Just a spark could transport us from the ends of the universe and back with energy to spare." He replied in the usual sophisticated and clever voice that he used for showing off deductions.

"But there's only two. There's three of us." John stated. Looking round he saw the Trickster give an innocent smile and a shrug. Sherlock glared at his little brother.

"Seems that we're going to have to share." He huffed. The locket chain wasn't that long, putting the two in a very uncomfortable position. John being considerably shorter than Sherlock, had to rest his head on Sherlock's sharp shoulders. In turn, Sherlock had to place his arms around John to make more room. Loki was almost in tears when they had finished, for he had been trying not to laugh at them for over ten minutes.

"You know," Loki said wiping away his tears, "You could've just bound the locket around your hands."


	5. Chapter 5

Blinding lights sped around them passed them with unimaginable speed as the three were teleported to Asgard. John felt almost weightless in the few seconds they were being teleported. Then the unpleasant feeling of nausea struck. They landed in a garden overlooking a palace that glittered of gold, behind a few bushes.

"Never. Again." John groaned, sitting himself on the bench nearby. To him the brothers seemed unaffected.

Ignoring John, Loki grinned, " Follow me if you please." He led them towards the palace, striding confidently ahead. They entered the palace through the back, which led into a long hall with intricately carved columns and marble floors. There he stopped. "And on your right you will see my throne." He said in a tour-guide's voice.

"Looks uncomfortable." Sherlock shrugged walking away. Loki pouted at his brother's apathy and led them down a winding staircase. There were no rails in the middle and a dim light could just be seen.

"That's a long way down." John's voice echoed down the stairwell. Loki clicked his fingers, summoning a small flickering fire in the palm of his hand that illuminated a diameter of 3 meters. John seemed slightly disturbed, "Am i supposed to be comforted by the idea of a man who can make fire balls at his own will? 'Cos that's pretty creepy."

"You watch X-men and you're not creeped out by them; why the real thing?" Loki raised an eyebrow. They descended the stairs without another word.


	6. Chapter 6

Dust seemed to cling to the air, weighing it down. The stairs were unusually steep and pretty soon John's leg was aching badly but he tried not to make it visible. Instead John tried to deduce his surroundings, just like Sherlock always did. John thought, "The middle of each step would slightly dip down; a well used passage? But there weren't any light sources to accomodate lots of people; maybe heavy boots would do this. Heavy boots... Guards? Soldiers? Something was being guarded. Well that explained the lack of light, to keep the place secret."

It turned out that John was right. at the bottom of the stairs they were greeted by a guard holding a torch in his left hand. Loki stepped forward, "Vesuvius, i would like to enter the vaults."

"My Lord, with all due respect i cannot-" the guard stuttered but was interrupted by Loki.

"Vesuvius dear, are you going against your king's order?" Loki raised an eyebrow.

"No My Lord." Vesuvius lowered his gaze.

"Good. i assure you that its for the greater good." Loki patted the guard's shoulder, smiling smugly. He gestured for Sherlock and John to follow him as he sauntered to a heavy looking mahogany door with iron hinges. He whipped round just as he got to the door, "feast your eyes on The Vault!"

The Vault seemed like a museum to John. Specimens- mostly ornaments and one glove like object- to either side of a smooth walk-way. It reminded him of a museum he had gone to with his father and sister; he remembered how he and Harry had played the game of how many things they could touch without getting caught. John smiled at the memory. He followed the two to the end of the walk-way where a podium stood bare infront of a barred gate.

"Crime scenes," Loki gestured, "your favourite."


	7. Chapter 7

Sherlock set to work almost immediately. He zoned out, concentrating only on the Asgardian crime scene. John gave the detective some space, knowing that he would not be of much use in an alien crime scene. Instead he turned to Loki.

"So how are you two even related?" He asked.

"It's a long story really," Loki sighed barely taking his brilliant green eyes off of his brother, "when Odin found me, I was young enough for him to pretend that I was his son, but my half-brothers Sherlock and Mycroft were too old so Odin simply took them in as wards, they were both to young and innocent to fully understand the concept of war. He soon realized that their mother was Asgardian so he loved them more, making me least loved."

John nodded, "that's well..."

"Confusing?" Loki looked out into the distance with a look of disgust. John could see that this mysterious brother was broken beyond repair, he carried the invisible scars of loss that could be seen in his face. The worst thing was, John thought, that he was to young to bear such burden, to know that there were few who loved him.

"John" Sherlock called. The doctor snapped out of his thoughts. "John look at this." Sherlock had his head cocked to the side, squinting at a dark patch on the hard cold floor. As he got closer, he saw that it was a footprint of a thin liquid, outlined by the marker in Sherlock's hand.

"A footprint" John mumbled.

"No shit John" Sherlock said sarcastically.


End file.
